Thursday, December 25, 2014

This has been annoying me recently so I wanted to write something about it. Lots of people are always saying *insert console here* is underpowered. Usually they mean in comparison to PC.

Well guess what? Compared to PC, CONSOLES ARE ALWAYS UNDERPOWERED! You will ALWAYS be able to build a PC that destroys the newest consoles if you're willing to put the money and effort into it. That's just reality. There's absolutely ZERO point in bitching about console horsepower, on the Internet or anywhere else.

Consoles are about three main things. Cost, ease of use and exclusives. Consoles are a cheaper option that are generally easier to set up and use. They also tend to have (at least, eventually) a library of games that you can only play on that hardware. If you're getting a console to obsess over graphics, you've already lost.

If you're a fan of having the latest and greatest, build yourself an amazing PC and have a happy life. I have a really good gaming PC myself, and can attest that it's awesome. I also have a Wii U and recently picked up a PS4. I know damn well that the PS4 and Wii U won't be able to compete with my PC, I don't care. The Wii U has an awesome library of exclusives and the PS4 will as well. The only thing you need to worry about is the games. Where ever the games you want to play are, go there and enjoy them. Build a PC, buy a console, do both! Just enjoy yourself.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Before I get started, I wanted to add something up top. The #GamerGate community has been, by a large margin, the best online community I've ever been a part of. These are some of the nicest, funniest, bravest people I've ever known. The community is also the most diverse group of people I've ever spoken to. There are many men, woman, people of every shade and hue, orientation and location around the world.

If anyone has told you that this is a hate group targeting women, they have lied to you. Either intentionally or through ignorance, they have steered you wrong. This is an amazing group of people and I'm honored to be among them every single day. I hope that you get the chance to see this as well. Okay, end rant, begin post...

I wanted to make a post for anyone who might either be new to #GamerGate or who has heard (probably incorrect) things about it in the media. Here are a few videos that should catch you up.

Not much time? Check this out. #GamerGate in 60 seconds.
This is a very good, very quick summary of the #GamerGate movement/revolt. If you see nothing else, watch this.

HuffPost Live: 3 Strong Women Of #GamerGate Fight Back!
Three awesome ladies (two of which support #GamerGate, one who's neutral) go on the Huffington Post Live stream to try and set the record straight.

What critics of GamerGate get wrong
From the always awesome Christina Hoff Sommors, a prominent feminist, a look at what the media has gotten wrong about #GamerGate.

I was going to compile some interesting reading here, but I think the GamerGate wiki page does a much better job. So go check that out if you want to learn more.

Have any questions or concerns? Head over to Twitter and use the #GamerGate hashtag and ask. There are plenty of people who would love to help you out by answering any questions that you might have.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

So I haven't posted here in a while or done anything on Youtube, I thought I would give an update and share something cool. I've been fairly sick for a while and am still recovering from it. I've been pretty active on Twitter with #GamerGate but that's pretty much it. Hopefully sometime in the next week or so I'll get more active with the blog/Youtube stuff. As for now, I've got something I want you to check out.

If you've been following #GamerGate, then hopefully you're aware that we've raised a good bit of money for charity, despite being called a bunch of bigoted/misogynist/racists by the mainstream media. Right now some of us are trying to raise money for Toys for Tots. It's a good cause, so if you want to get in on it, visit the page right here.

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll post more soon. Have a good one and stay awesome.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

What a few weeks it's been, if you've been following the big kerfuffle surrounding gaming journalism, or the lack thereof. I'm not going to write a huge article describing GamerGate to you, as it's been done already and I'm not the best at doing that. Basically GamerGate is about Gamers being sick of gaming "journalists" being rotten and we're also sick of being labeled as mysogynyst or anti-woman. If you want get caught up on the issue, here are a few good links for you.

Saturday, August 30, 2014

So in case you haven't heard, Nintendo announced the "new" Nintendo 3DS through a Japanese Nintendo Direct recently. If you want more details, here's a good article. Check that out and then come back.

Caught up? Excellent. It looks cool, but it has me a bit worried. Don't get me wrong, as someone who doesn't currently own a 3DS, I'll probably get one. Here's the problem, the system has a faster CPU and roughly double the RAM. And as the article states, there's already one game confirmed to work only on the "new" Nintendo 3DS, Xenoblade.

In case you weren't aware, the 3DS has sold a shit ton so there's a lot of people who have already paid money for a 3DS that won't be playing portable Xenoblade... unless they upgrade.

Now, new models of handhelds and indeed, home consoles are nothing new. Pretty much all of Nintendo's handhelds have gotten tweaked or upgraded versions, although these upgrades are usually cosmetic, or change something non-essential like manufacturing cost, usability and battery life. Nothing that anyone absolutely needs. Well, at least for the portable version of Xenoblade and whatever other games may come out that require this new revision, you will absolutely need it.

Things like an extra analog thumbpad... thing and buttons can be added to an existing 3DS right now via an addon. The NFC capabilities required to read Amiibo figures will come to existing 3DS systems via another addon. There's no way, however, to add a faster processor or extra ram to your current 3DS. This segments the market in a way that few other hardware revisions have. I honestly think they should have just waited a year or two and announced a true sequel to the 3DS system with faster hardware, more ram and its own library of games that only it can play. Doing this sort of... 3DS 1.5 just seems bizarre.

I'm not really upset about this myself, I just find it weird. I also wonder how people are going to react to this. Is the 3DS, Nintendo and their library, so beloved and respected that Nintendo will get away with this without too much backlash? Am I just crazy in questioning it at all? I'm really not sure. We're just going to have to wait and see, I suppose. But it's not what I would have done.

What do you think about all this? Leave a comment below and let me know.

Friday, July 11, 2014

I'm pretty excited about this video. Not that the part with me is anything too special, it's the part at the very end. I made an end card and switched to a different video editor. It allowed me to make it really fancy. Check it out.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Not exactly new, but something I saw recently and had to share. It's a clip from Bill Maher's movie "Religulous." You can just see the regret on the face of the senator right after he speaks. You can also see the amazed/dumbfounded look on Bill Maher's face. Check it out.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

So one of the few things we didn't get was a new F-Zero game. A petition was launched to show that we, the fans, want a new one. I just signed it and am asking you to do the same.

There's a misconception that online petitions don't do anything, especially for anything video game related, but that's not the case. Several games have been localized for the USA based on petitions and the original Dark Souls was brought to PC because of a petition. They can work if they get enough support and if the company is interested. If you want a new F-Zero, now is a good time to show that there's real interest from paying customers in getting one.

Monday, June 16, 2014

Since I'm a big Nintendo fan and am really happy with their performance at E3 2014, I thought I would share some trailers they released. There's plenty more on the official Nintendo Youtube channel but these are my favorites.

I should note that the reveal for the new Legend of Zelda doesn't have its own trailer. Footage of that can be seen in the E3 2014 Nintendo Direct right here.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

I urged you just recently to contact the FCC and FCC chairman Tom Wheeler. I still recommend you follow my advice and do so, but now that the new FCC rules for "net neutrality" (notice the quotes) have been proposed, they're taking comments from the public on them. We need to email them, now. In massive numbers. We need to let them know that the proposed rules are garbage and we need REAL, BINDING net neutrality. None of this watered down bullshit.

A funny video popped up recently by John Oliver. It's from his show on HBO. He explains the issue and is hilarious as always. Have a look...

Click here to be taken directly to fcc.gov/comments. If the page is down due to high traffic, you can send an email directly to openinternet@fcc.gov

This is super important so I would really appreciate you contacting the FCC. The future of the Internet as we know it is at stake.

Friday, May 16, 2014

If not, you should be. Now that the embargo for reviews has lifted, they've been flooding in and seem universally positive. Not that anything else should be expected for Mario Kart, but it's still good to hear. Here are some excerpts from a few...

"Once again Mario and friends are suiting up and tearing up the track, with 16 all-new courses and 16 remakes. Although a number of Mario Kart games have featured track reworks in the past, this time around they're depicted in glorious HD, which makes a world of difference and utterly transforms them in a way that wasn't previously possible." - Destructoid

"Mario Kart 8 lifts that winning formula from the blurred, blocky home of Mario Kart Wii, providing a drastic boost in visual quality in the series' first lap in HD. From rippling, Cheep Cheep-infested waters to the marks left on the pavement from sharp turns, Mario's brand of racing looks the best it ever has." - joystiq

And that's just a few. I certainly didn't need the big gaming sites to give it good reviews, but it doesn't hurt. I'll be downloading my digital copy the moment it's available on the Nintendo eShop, and I'll let you know soon after what I think of the game. Spoiler alert: I'll probably love it.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

UPDATE 2: Want to do even more? This site allows you to send faxes directly from the web page. Send one to the FCC's toll-free fax number 1-866-418-0232 and ask that Internet be classified as a "Title II Service" to guarantee Net Neutrality. Thanks!

UPDATE: There's something else I need you to do. Click Here to find your representatives. I need you to call each one of them and ask that Internet be classified as a Title II Service so we can have real, iron-clad Net Neutrality. I just did this myself and would genuinely appreciate it if you would as well.

I wasn't going to make my own video, but I was inspired recently by calling Tom Wheeler and leaving a message on the subject, so here you go.

Click here to be taken to a page with the appropriate phone number and a script, if you want one. I went by the script and added my own thoughts after, which I describe in the video above.

For more detailed information on the subject, see the post below this one.

Do me, yourself and the entire Internet a huge favor by emailing ALL of those addresses, at once to make it easier for yourself, and ask them to classify ISPs as "Common Carriers" and protect Net Neutrality. I don't want to see an Internet without it, and I hope you don't either. Please join me and many others by doing whatever we can to defend it.

This subreddit is dedicated to the art of wet shaving. This type of shaving usually uses older shaving gear, such as safety razors and straight razors. I've switched to using a safety razor myself, and love it so far. It's much, MUCH cheaper than buying all those multi-blade cartridges and much more satisfying.

Keyboards used to be based on mechanical switches, but most modern keyboards you buy use a rubber membrane under the keys. Pressing this down onto the circuit board completes a circuit. Recently, mechanical keyboards have been a roaring comeback. People like the way they feel and sound much better than membrane keyboards. I plan on getting one myself soon.

Friday, April 11, 2014

I've linked this on Twitter, but I wanted to post it here to make sure I can get as many people to see it as possible.

Whenever a sales report comes out that shows Nintendo isn't doing so well with their Wii U, I think about this video. Gamers everywhere shout "WE WANT NEW STUFF!" then when Nintendo gives us something new, gamers shout "THAT'S TOO DIFFERENT! WE WANT THE SAME STUFF!"

This video explores the subject better than I can, so I won't rant any more. Just watch it. Let me know what you think.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

I haven't posted in a good while, so I thought I should put something here. How are things? I'm doing pretty well. I've been streaming on Twitch almost daily. I must say I'm enjoying it, especially the behind-the-scenes stuff like designing and refining my graphics. I tend to tinker with that stuff endlessly.

To facilitate my Twitch streaming I've purchased a high-end Microphone and Webcam. I'll give you my impressions of those right now.... in a video.

I'll start doing more posts soon, and doing some of those in video form. Below are links to the webcam and mic I used.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

I probably should have added this to the previous post, but oh well. I recently got a new microphone to increase the quality of my Twitch streams. It's the Blue Yeti. So far the sound is excellent, a definite upgrade from my gaming headset's mic. I highly recommend it to anyone doing anything that requires high quality capture of your voice or instruments.

I hope to stream more regularly now, every single day unless I absolutely can't. Check out my channel here and don't forget to follow me. Stop by some time during a stream and say hello, I'm always watching chat. If you want quick notice of when I go live, following me on Twitch and Twitter is the best way to do that.

So I get my new modem, good stuff. We call Comcast to get it activated and holy hell, what a pain. We're told that the old one has been deactivated/turned off/whatever and we hook up the new one as instructed. After a while of oddity and confusion they get it to the point where it connects and will load the "activate your shit" page but no further. Trying to activate it in the browser fails and after trying several things and getting only errors, they give up. Someone is scheduled to show up here in the near future to deal with it in person. Fun.

Keep in mind that the modem is fully compatible with Comcast. In fact, it was on a list of approved modems on the Comcast web site. They got the model# of the modem and never questioned that fact, but it's odd how it would be so difficult to get this working correctly. It seems that getting Comcast to do anything over the phone is always a nightmare. I just wish we could call them up, give them the info off the old and new modems and have it done in 10 minutes or so. Clean and easy. If only. I'll post another update after their technician has come and gone.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

So two or three months ago I got a letter from my ISP, Comcast, saying basically "dawg, that modem might not be rad enough for our sp33dz, upgrade dat shit yo." My current modem is a DOCSIS 2.0 modem, and I had heard that they were upgrading to 3.0 so I figured that was probably an accurate assessment of the current situation. I requested a better one and received a modem that doubled as a wireless router.

Two problems with that. First, I already have a wireless router. It's quite a bit better than anything you've got, Comcrap. The second problem is the settings for the wireless router could not be changed... whoops! No thanks, fuck that. I'd rather random people not be using my modem/router as a public hotspot. In case you hadn't heard, that's an actual thing that Comcast is apparently doing. Google it.

My planned solution, which I've heard is probably something I should have done a long time ago, is to just buy my own modem and stop renting a shitty one from Comcast. The one I plan on getting is this one which was on a list of officially approved/recommended modems from Comcast's website. I'll get that in the near future and we'll see how that goes. I'll post the results and a review of the modem when this goes down.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Lately I've been watching (and enjoying) a few people stream various video games on Twitch.tv, so I've decided to give it a shot myself. I've already streamed a bit on my first day and so far, I like it. I streamed a bit of Rust and then some League of Legends with a couple friends. I'll likely stream more soon, so watch out for it.

If you follow me on Twitter @DavidGX you'll get a message there whenever I start streaming. The best way to to be notified is to follow me on Twitch directly. Check out my Twitch.tv channel right here and be sure to follow me there.

Please stop by during a stream and and say hello, chat a bit and be sure to give me any suggestions for games to stream. Some people who stream get donations, although I don't really expect to get much in the way of that. I plan on buying a friend of mine a copy of Planetary Annihilation if I actually happen to get enough money together, through Twitch streaming or other means.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

So as part of the recent holidays, I got some money which I used to purchase a Nintendo 3DS XL and a few games. It's a special edition gold and black Zelda themed system that comes with the game The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. On top of the included game, I also got Pokemon X, Animal Crossing New Leaf, Dead or Alive Dimensions, Liberation Maiden, Shantae: Risky's Revenge and Art of Balance Touch. So far, I really really like the 3DS. I guess I'm kind of late to the party on this, as Nintendo has sold a ton of these things, but I'm very impressed.

I only got one recently due to a belief I had that Nintendo would release a revised system with a second thumb stick. They never did, so I decided to grab one when I saw the chance. I honestly wish I had as soon as the 3DS as soon as the XL models came out. The system seems well designed and the game library is absolutely incredible. There's plenty of games I'd still like to get, when I have the time to enjoy them and the money to purchase them.

If you've been on the fence, let me recommend that you go ahead and grab a 3DS for yourself. If you get one, or already have one, feel free to add me. My friend code is: 1950 - 9016 - 7165. If you add mine, make sure to leave a comment with yours so I can add you as well. Here's some relevant links (minus digital only products) if you're interested in anything I mentioned.